Heading East toward Calgary!

We have had a great time reconnecting with family and friends over the past couple of weeks. After leaving Jana and Joe’s house on Saturday, we travelled to Chilliwack and the spent the night with Shawn’s cousin Kenny and his wife Theresa. Since the boys had both had the chance to hang out together with their son Elliot last summer, they were very excited to see him again and entertained us with their exploits on the trampoline. Although their daughter Natalie was headed out for an evening with friends, Shawn and I enjoyed reconnecting with her before she left and were amazed to see that the tiny baby we met when we visited BC nineteen years ago, is now a lovely young woman heading to Germany for a summer trip with her boyfriend. As always, Kenny and Theresa were welcoming and we spent a lovely summer evening catching up on the back deck and enjoyed a bike ride the next morning.

On Sunday, we headed east and enjoyed a beautiful drive to the Okanagan Valley where we stopped in Peachland to visit our friends Dave and Virginia, who moved from Burlington almost seven years ago. It was really lovely to reconnect and to reintroduce the kids who were just little guys last time they saw each other. Their home, which is a stunning white treasure nestled in the hills above Lake Okanagan and offers an extraordinary 360 degree view of the lake, mountains, and forest, was almost enough to have us considering staying out West, and we loved every minute we spent sitting on their back deck and catching each other up on our lives. Tossing in a day at their swim beach where the kids got to try out not only the diving boards and zipline, but also Elise’s Sea Scooters, and we could not have asked for a better visit.

On Tuesday, we packed back up and headed along the TransCanada Highway to Revelstoke. The scenery along the way continued to be amazing and since we were in need of power, we were pleased to find a beautiful little campground on Williams Lake just minutes from Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks. Our original plan had us doing some serious hiking and biking in the area, but unfortunately Shawn’s rather hilarious attempt to zipline at the swim beach in Peachland revved up his old shoulder injury and required a few days of rest. Instead we took it easy, simply taking in the scenery from the beach and enjoying dinner and some live music in the town.

Yesterday, we arrived in Lake Louise. After a massage on Tuesday night, Shawn was feeling better and we decided that a hike was in order. After a quick set-up in the Provincial Park campground, we headed up the mountain to the Chateau Lake Louise and marvelled at the beautiful green lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Even though Shawn and I had seen this view before, we were still staggered by the beauty. After feasting our eyes for a little while, we headed out on the mountain trails and climbed up past Mirror Lake to Lake Agnes. This lovely climb ascended about 1100 feet over 3.5 km, and since it was a beautiful sunny day, the quiet 7km route was the perfect way to spend the afternoon. At the top, the view of Lake Agnes nestled into the mountains and the cascading waterfalls beneath was a fabulous reward for our cardio workout on the way up. Descending down the other side, we were fortunate to see a marmot relaxing on the rocks, who posed for us and allowed us to take his picture. After jumping into the van for our ride back to the campground, we had an even more amazing visitor with a full grown Grizzly bear grazing quietly at the side of the road. Our patience while watching him was rewarded when he looked up right into the camera for a split second and I got one of my favourite shots of the whole trip.

Today, we are on our way to Banff. Tomorrow, we will be joined by our nephew Jeff. The adventure continues and with just over 5 weeks until we arrive back in Ontario, we are determined to embrace every minute!

Tammy